Study on Electromagnetic Force Characteristics Acting on Levitation/Guidance Coils of a Superconducting Maglev Vehicle System

Superconducting Maglev has been developed as a high-speed transport system. Superconducting coils (SC coils) are installed on the vehicle, and levitation/guidance coils (LG coils) are installed on the ground. A null-flux-type electrodynamic suspension system provided by electromagnetic interaction between SC coils and LG coils serves as the levitation and guidance functions of the vehicle system. Electromagnetic forces acting on SC coils are related to levitation and guidance functions of the vehicle. These forces were studied in previous research, and characteristics of levitation and guidance forces were revealed with respect to parameters of the design of the vehicle. On the other hand, electromagnetic forces acting on LG coils also exist as action-reaction pairs with the forces acting on SC coils. The forces act on LG coils in every levitated run of the vehicle, and stress is applied on the conductor and molded resin of the LG coils. In conventional studies, the vehicle design has been decided mainly by the electromagnetic forces acting on SC coils, and not by the forces acting on LG coils. The aim of the study is to establish an improved method to design the vehicle system with the objective of not only optimization of characteristics of the vehicle, but also consideration of stress on LG coils. As a preliminary study to establish the improved method, a study by computer simulation on characteristics of electromagnetic forces acting on LG coils with respect to the parameters of the vehicle is described in this paper.